Finding a Spiritual Home: How a New Generation of Jews Can Transform the American Synagogue - Hardcover

Schwarz, Rabbi Sidney

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1683360567 ISBN 13: 9781683360568

Publisher: Jewish Lights, 2003

Synopsis

The Jewish community has lost some of the most sensitive spiritual souls of this generation. They are Jews who were looking for God and found spiritual homes outside of Judaism. Their journeys traversed the Jewish community, but nothing there beckoned them. The creation of synagogue-communities in which the voices of seekers can be heard and their questions can be asked will challenge many loyalist Jews. It will upset and enrage them. But it would also enrich them.
―from Chapter 18

In this fresh look at the spiritual possibilities of American Jewish life, Rabbi Sidney Schwarz presents the framework for a new synagogue model―the synagogue community―and its promise to transform our understanding of the synagogue and its potential for modern Judaism.

Schwarz profiles four innovative synagogues―one from each of the major movements of Judaism―that have had extraordinary success with their approach to congregational life and presents practical ways to replicate their success.

Includes a discussion guide for study groups and book clubs as well as a new afterword by the author describing developments in synagogue change projects since the book was first published.

About this title

Review:

Finding a Spiritual Home promises to explain "how a new generation of Jews can transform the American synagogue." The book delivers on this promise by describing the lives of four thriving synagogues whose theological orientations range from Reform to Orthodox. Undoubtedly, Finding a Spiritual Home addresses some burning questions about the future of American Judaism: fully 35 percent of ethnic Jews no longer identify themselves with Judaism, author Sidney Schwarz writes. The book begins with a historical overview of synagogue life in America, then describes the spiritual needs that various generations of American Jews presently experience, and finally offers a prescription for regeneration of synagogue life.

Throughout the book, Schwarz's arguments expertly interweave narratives of individual and communal religious life, taken from the four synagogues in whose innovations Schwarz finds hope for American Judaism. These religious communities have attracted large numbers of worshipers with programs that seem both radical and commonsensical--"establishing public service opportunities such as a Jewish version of Habitat for Humanity," for instance, or encouraging worshipers to write their own prayer books. Schwarz carefully describes the impact such innovations have on synagogue members, citing interviews with worshipers whose enthusiasm jumps off the page: "The Judaism I live is about choosing life," one says. His book will likely inspire more American Jews to make that same choice. --Michael Joseph Gross

From the Back Cover:

Like countless others of their generation, many post-war American Jews have abandoned the religion of their birth to search for a spiritual home in other traditions. Some find their way back to the faith of their heritage, but why do so many find that the synagogue has not met their needs?

In this illuminating look at Judaism's future, Rabbi Sidney Schwarz offers a penetrating analysis of the American Jewish community, challenging American synagogues to respond to a generation of seekers and satisfy the spiritual hunger of the "new American Jew." This groundbreaking book not only reveals the possibilities of this new, vital spiritual culture, but also offers strategies for transforming any congregation into a place that the Jews of today can truly call home.

Arguing for the creation of a new model-the synagogue community-Schwarz profiles four innovative synagogues (one from each of the major movements in American Judaism) that have had extraordinary success with this new approach to congregational life. Schwarz presents ways to replicate their success and transform our understanding of the synagogue and its potential for American Jews.

Highlighting specific strategies to transform existing congregations or to create new ones, Finding a Spiritual Home is an eloquent and powerful call to spiritual seekers to explore the riches of the Jewish tradition. With compelling accounts of Jews who "came home" to Judaism, this book conveys a message of hope for every Jew who is longing for connection, transcendence, and purpose in Judaism-every Jew who seeks a spiritual home.

A added bonus in the book is a discussion guide for book clubs and study groups.

Photo by Ben Forman

Sidney Schwarz is the founder and president of The Washington Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values, an educational foundation dedicated to renewal of American Jewish life through Judaic study, social justice, and civic activism. He is the founding rabbi of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, MD and the author of two books and numerous articles on contemporary Jewish life.

[back jacket]
Finding a Spiritual Home
"A generation of American Jews, desperate to find greater meaning and spirituality in their lives, is unable to satisfy their needs in synagogues. Instead, they search elsewhere. We are losing some of the most sensitive spiritual souls of this generation."
—Sidney Schwarz

"An extraordinary book. A clarion call for spiritual leadership in a post-ethnic age."
—Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, Hebrew Union College, New York; co-founder, Synagogue 2000: Institute for the Synagogue of the Twenty-First Century

"Schwarz, an outstanding community builder and creative figure in American Jewry, has written a thoughtful, insightful treatment of the synagogue, its limits and its real potential to sustain a new generation of Jews. If you care about the future of Jewry, you want to read this book."
—Rabbi Irving Greenberg, president, Jewish Life Network; author, The Jewish Way

"With stories both of individuals and synagogues, Sidney Schwarz shows that old religious structures can indeed become alive with new spiritual meaning, sensitive to generational change. His is an encouraging, beautifully-written account of congregations in positive transition-at once inspiring and instructive."
—Wade Clark Roof, author, A Generation of Seekers: The Spiritual Journeys of the Baby Boom Generation and Spiritual Marketplace

"Finding a Spiritual Home is one of the most thoughtful and provocative books I have ever encountered. This is the right book at the right time."
—Jonathan Woocher, executive vice president, Jewish Education Service of North America; author, Sacred Survival: The Civil Religion of American Jews

". . . A must-read. Schwarz's account of several new-paradigm synagogues working on the cutting edge of Jewish spirituality is richly detailed and the personal stories of seekers and their paths into Judaism are compelling."
—Ron Wolfson, University of Judaism; co-founder, Synagogue 2000: Institute for the Synagogue of the Twenty-First Century

About this edition

• Publisher: Jewish Lights
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1683360567
• ISBN 13: 9781683360568
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 332